Tomorrow (Sunday 17th June) is the World Day to Combat Desertification organised by the United Nations.

Why is this relevant to the proposed massive solar power station on our glorious coastal countryside? Well, as a purely profit-motivated company, Cleve Hill Solar Park Ltd (CHSP) want to cram in as many solar panels as possible, so they plan to cover 1000 acres with densely packed east-west panels that are arranged in huge 24 metre wide ‘strings’. The net result on the land below will be to starve it of both sunlight and rainfall. The land will also be subject to a rise in temperature due to an effect known as the PhotoVoltaic Heat Island effect (PVHI).

These factors will impact the land below the panels. With no sunlight and no water the soil will degrade, turning the land into a dry, dusty desert. This is not usually a problem that the UK has to face, but then the UK has never seen a ludicrous proposal of this type and scale before.

We often use land as if it were a limitless resource, ignoring its role in our everyday lives. This negligence threatens food and water supply, biodiversity and even human security itself. Short-sighted economic gains such as land grabbing, unplanned urban sprawl, unsustainable agriculture and over-consumption lead to unsustainable land use, which eventually causes degradation and loss of critical ecosystem services. As a result, consumption of the Earth’s natural reserves has doubled in the last 30 years, with a third of the planet´s land already severely degraded.

Public – have your say

Even if you think the proposal should not be allowed, you should explain your concerns to the developer so that, if it does go ahead, the impact on the community and the environment is managed in the best way possible.